Who are you, really? 

That’s not just a philosophical or metaphysical question — it encompasses everything about the person you are.  That includes your beliefs and your chosen community, but it’s also deeply grounded in your Family heritage and potentially even your physical genes.  In that context knowing how to research family history isn’t just an absorbing hobby, it’s potentially a way to help you understand yourself. 

The Importance of Family History

For the past few centuries, there’s been a great deal of debate over the question of “nature vs. nurture,” or whether our upbringing or ancestry has more to do with how we turn out.  In reality, both are important, and knowing your family history in detail can give you a lot of insight into who you are as a person.  We’ve all seen those stories of long-lost siblings discovering that they share an intriguing set of similarities, from signature gestures to a penchant for tattoos.  It’s especially important for adoptees, who have a vested interest in knowing their biological ancestors’ medical history. 

Aside from those high-profile scenarios, though, it’s just plain fascinating to learn more about who your forebears were as people.  Getting to fill in some empty spaces in your family tree is a meaningful exercise in its own right, but gaining some insight into their day-to-day lives, their feelings and their experience of the world is priceless. 

How to Research Family History: Our Top 10 Resources

Knowing you want to look into your family history is one thing; knowing how to do it is another.  You won’t get far without the right tools for the job, and we’ve prepared a list of the top 10 resources you should lean on.  There are many, many others that you’ll learn about as you go, but these are the best ones to help get you started. 

1. Genealogy websites

Genealogy websites are a no-brainer starting point for most of us.  Ancestry.com is the biggest and best-known, but there are several others that offer similar services.  Often they compete by offering lower prices than Ancestry, or by focusing on a specific niche (we’ll come back to some of those niche players later). 

While we don’t recommend or endorse any specific platform, a few other notable sites you might want to look at include MyHeritage.com, Geneanet.org and FamilySearch.org. 

2. DNA testing 

Top-tier sites like Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com offer DNA testing as one of their services, and it’s also available from a wide range of standalone testing companies like 23 and Me.  A DNA test can give you a fairly accurate picture of your genetic makeup, can help you find your birth family if you’re adopted — and may even be able to tell you whether you’re predisposed to certain genetically-transmitted medical conditions (though that latter is less useful than you might think, from the advertisements you’ve seen). 

There are some potential downsides to genetic testing.  One is that most tests are submitted by people of European ancestry, and that’s where the results are most reliable.  Another is that you may uncover family secrets that you weren’t prepared for.  Privacy advocates object to the DNA data being sold, shared or subpoenaed, all of which can and do happen depending on a given company’s terms of use.  It can definitely be a useful tool, so you’ll have to balance the pros and cons to decide whether it’s for you. 

3. Libraries

Before the internet came along, libraries were the default repository for all kinds of information.  Your local library can have all manner of unpredictable research materials on hand, from books of local history to forgotten small-town newspapers to primary historic documents. 

Some specific libraries have especially deep resources for genealogists.  The NYC public library has one of the largest collections outside of the Library of Congress, including a vast number of historic city directories on microfilm.  The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has one of the country’s largest Genealogical databases, including special African-American and Native American collections. 

Finally, the Library of Congress itself boasts a tremendous collection of historic documents from directories to local newspapers from all over the country.  If your ancestors were mentioned in print, anywhere in the country, you can probably track it down (eventually) through the Library of Congress. 

4. FamilySearch Centers

These genealogical service centers are operated by the Mormons (aka Latter-Day Saints) in conjunction with their individual congregations (there are several thousand of them worldwide).  You may know them by their old name, Family History Centers. 

The LDS church maintains a huge library of genealogical information, primarily for its own members’ use, but makes its data available at no charge to the public.  While the individual FamilySearch Centers vary in size and assets, they all provide access to the resources of the central library in Salt Lake City. 

5. Historical and genealogical societies

It’s the rare locale that’s so small and sparsely-populated that it doesn’t have at least a modest local-history society (or at least, a handful of enthusiasts who meet periodically).  These impassioned hobbyists typically know everything there is to know about an area’s earliest settlers, and when (and how) each successive generation of immigrants arrived. 

Some communities may also have a genealogical society, where the relationships between local families are already documented (a great time-saver!).  This information is often but not always available on genealogical websites, so reaching out to a local society (where they exist) can often give you that one elusive piece of information you wouldn’t find elsewhere. 

There’s also a National Genealogical Society, which is a great resource in its own right and can also steer you toward local groups where they exist. 

6. Local, community and state archives 

State archives and their equivalents at other levels of government are the official equivalent of those local historic and genealogical societies.  They’re where governments store their records, and they can sometimes be an exceptionally good resource.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that archival materials are all dry, dusty official documents.  They’ll often include short-lived local newspapers; ephemera like posters and vintage advertisements from local businesses; and donated collections of photos, letters, diaries and other intensely personal materials.  They may not always connect directly to your family, but you may luck out and find references to people in your own family tree. 

7. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

This is the federal equivalent of your local archives, but it’s worth listing separately because of the massive quantity and quality of information it brings to the table.  Through NARA you’ll have access to everything from historic census data to military records to naturalization records and the passenger lists of vessels bringing immigrants to the U.S. 

8. Newspaper archives

In the internet era, newspapers are a fading power, but in bygone years they contained a lot of community information, as well as the actual news of the day. 

Birth announcements and wedding announcements are always useful, and obituaries are solid gold: Aside from the date of death and (sometimes) birth, they’ll usually list a large number of surviving or predeceased relatives and sometimes provide telling details of the person’s life.  If you’re really lucky, you may even find articles specifically about members of your family or their businesses. 

Your hometown paper may have its own archive (or it may be in your local library), but otherwise you’ll need to look to online archives.  The “Big Three” can be found at newspapers.com, newspaperarchive.com and genealogybank.com, though there are several others as well.  Each has exclusive information you won’t find on the others, so you may need to take advantage of their respective free trials in order to figure out which one will be the most useful for you.

9. AncientFaces.com

AncientFaces is intriguingly different from most of the other resources we’ve listed so far.  It’s a website where people can contribute photos of their family members, and tell their stories.  While it’s not the same kind of hard data you’d get from other sites, its focus on images and narrative set it apart.  You could think of it as “Instagram for ancestors.” 

You may or may not find your relatives on here (even if not, it’s worth checking back periodically), but if you do you’ll have an unusual opportunity to learn about them as individuals. 

10. Niche and specialty genealogy sites 

While the big genealogy sites offer the broadest range of information, they can have gaps and blind spots.  That’s especially true if your ancestry doesn’t happen to be exclusively white and European.  A number of specialized genealogy sites aim to fill in those gaps, offering a narrower focus but greater depth of information. 

These include (among lots of others):

• AfriGeneas and The Freedmen’s Bureau Online for African-Americans
• Genealogical Society of Hispanic America and CubaGenWeb for Hispanic-AmericansJewishGen for Jewish Americans.  

Although the big sites do a pretty good job for those of European ancestry, there are also niche sites targeting families from specific countries of origin  (FindMyPast for those with U.K. roots, Filae for those with French ancestry, and so on).

Your Own Extended Family Is a Genealogical Resource

It’s important not to overlook one of the best genealogical resources you have at your disposal: the living members of your own extended family.  For starters, there’s often someone in your family who’s already done a lot of the heavy lifting on constructing your family tree or gathering information about the family (be respectful about soliciting their help, rather than assuming or demanding it, and be equally generous in sharing what you learn along the way). 

Your Spokeo subscription can be helpful here, if you aren’t actively in touch with every branch of your family.  You can look them up by name, last known address, phone number or email, and even if your initial search comes up dry you’ll probably find enough additional leads to find them through additional searches. 

The greatest value, though, comes from actually talking to your relatives (or recording formal interviews) to take advantage of their living memories.  Not only can this help you avoid frustrating roadblocks in your search (“Oh, Harvey was his given name but he always went by Bill because his middle name was William”), no other resource can give you such an immediate and meaningful feeling for who your ancestors were as individuals.  Better yet, by recording the relatives you’re interviewing, you are — in turn — creating a living record of them, which one day in the future will be a moving and irreplaceable memorial. 

You Are Here

It’s hard to explain the feeling of satisfaction that comes from successfully filling in the blanks of your family history.  It’s like finding a sign on a confusing trail that says “You Are Here.”  It helps put your own life in its context, and can create a feeling of connection with your ancestors, your living family members and perhaps even your community. 

For some, a dive into genealogy is a specific, time-limited project; a box to be ticked.  For others it will become a lifelong hobby — perhaps even an obsession! — that makes them the historian and chronicler of their family line.  You won’t know which category you’ll fall into until you try. 

Sources:

• Ancestry.com – Home
• MyHeritage.com – Home
• Geneanet.org – Home
• FamilySearch.org – Home
• 23 and Me – Home
• Library of Congress – Onsite Researchers | Research and Reference Services at the Library 
• National Genealogical Society – Home
• Council of State Archives – Directory of State Archives
• US National Records and Archives Administration – Resources for Genealogists
• Newspapers.com – Home
• NewspaperArchive.com – Home
• GenealogyBank.com – Home
• AncientFaces.com – Home
• AfriGeneas.org – Home
• The Freedmen’s Bureau Online – Home
• Genealogical Society of Hispanic America – Home
• CubaGenWeb.org – Home
• JewishGen.org – Home
• FindMyPast – Home
• Filae.com – Home